


The Last Good Day

by purple_bookcover



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Anal Sex, Cunnilingus, Dom/sub, F/F, F/M, Humiliation, M/M, Multi, Other, Rimming, Threesome, Threesome - F/M/M, Vaginal Fingering, background hypnos/meg, background nyx/persephone, dick stepping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:14:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purple_bookcover/pseuds/purple_bookcover
Summary: Zagreus insists on leaving the House of Hades. It's Megaera's job to stop him.Even if she doesn't want to.A canon-compliant-ish look at what this all must have been like for Megaera.
Relationships: Megaera/Nyx, Megaera/Thanatos, Megaera/Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Megaera/Theseus, Megaera/Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 29
Kudos: 101





	1. Nyx

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Megaera seeks Nyx's wise counsel. She finds a whole lot more than that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to create a story that was Meg's POV. What is it like for her when Zagreus starts trying to escape? How does she deal with her duty and her job as well as any friendship or love she might feel for him? This story is going to attempt to dive into all that in three chapters of 5K each. Thanks for joining me!

“H-how...”

Megaera surrendered to the Styx. The water rose as her eyes fluttered shut, blood gushing from the sword wound in her gut. She knew she was lying on the floor in the final chamber of Tartarus, but the stone felt farther and farther away as the Styx dragged her under. 

She gasped when it finished remaking her, jolting up out of the red water. Megaera wasted no time dragging herself out of the river and into the great hall of the House of Hades. The sooner she could get this over with the--

“So, he got ya, huh?”

She cringed at the high pitched voice addressing her. “What do you want, Hypnos?” she said.

“Oh, just saying hi,” Hypnos said. His sleeping mask still covered one eye. Even from several steps away, Megaera could see the doodles around the edges of his list of the dead. 

His one uncovered eye flickered up and down Megaera. She nearly sighed, but there was a terrible temptation in that look. The one time she’d accepted his advances unassuming Hypnos had proven himself surprisingly adequate. She was just about exhausted and irritated enough to give him a second chance at it that day. 

Megaera shook herself. Fighting Zagreus was really getting to her if she was seriously contemplating _that_. 

“Must be weird fighting Zagreus, huh?” Hypnos said. 

“It’s my job.”

“Yeah, even so, though.” 

“Even so what?” She rounded on Hypnos, who shrank back, suddenly awake and alert. 

Megaera softened instantly. Much as he might be annoying, Hypnos had never been anything but a reliable friend. He couldn’t know what she was dealing with, the war raging between her responsibilities and her heart. 

Her heart. Gods. She really was cracking if she was thinking that way. 

Megaera willed her teeth to unclench, willed her balled up fists to relent. She sighed through her nose. “Do you want to get a drink, Hypnos?” 

He blinked, shrinking back again as though the offer hid some blow behind it. “A drink? With you? Why, I’d love to, Meg, but are you sure?” 

She just rolled her eyes and started walking away. Maybe he’d follow, maybe he wouldn’t, but it wasn’t her problem. She was a fool to make the offer anyway. What did she have to say to Hypnos? It’s not like he could possibly understand what was going on. 

Yet as the nectar flowed, she found herself more and more grateful for his company. 

“There, there, Meg,” Hypnos said. “You sound awfully stressed.”

“Yeah, well, my job--” She stopped herself. Even tipsy, she’d managed not to say anything too incriminating thus far. It was probably best to keep it that way. 

“Ah, Nyx can be tough.”

Megaera scowled over at Hypnos, but where she expected a smirk she found an incongruously somber expression. 

“Stop it,” she said. “You look weird that way.”

He blinked as though waking. “Huh? What way?” 

The little smirk was back, but Meg couldn’t quite shake what she’d witnessed a moment ago. Nyx wasn’t the easiest god to work for, but to have to call her “mother” – that was a frightening prospect indeed. To say nothing of Hypnos’s brothers. Thanatos was every bit as severe and unyielding as his mother and Charon... Meg shivered. Suffice to say she made a point of not crossing Charon. 

“If work’s so tough why don’t you try talking to Nyx about it?” Hypnos said.

Megaera frowned at him. “And how do you imagine that will go?” 

“Aw, she’s not as bad as she seems. She’s actually kinda nice! Well, sometimes. I guess. If you get her in the right mood she’s … not terrifying.” 

“Not terrifying. Great. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Megaera finished off her nectar. The stuff was doing nothing for her mood, even as it made her head lighter. 

Hypnos touched her wrist. The moment she looked down to see his fingers against her skin he jerked his hand back as though burned.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know you’ve got a lot to deal with.” There was that weirdly serious look again. It didn’t suit him at all. 

“Yeah, well, thanks for commiserating.” 

“I still think you should talk to her,” Hypnos said. “She’s stern but she’s not unfair. Don’t you think she wants to know if things aren’t going well? It’s kinda her job too.” 

Megaera wanted to stand up and walk away, to leave this conversation behind her, but Hypnos was making a startling amount of sense, damn him. 

“I don’t mean to pry,” Hypnos said and Megaera braced, “but if, uh, a certain someone is putting you in a tough spot, maybe making your job harder all of a sudden, getting your _supervisor_ a little riled up–” his eyes flickered toward the wall. Somewhere beyond it Hades sat at his desk working through his perpetual stack of paperwork. “–I think Nyx might be sympathetic. That’s all.”

Megaera exhaled through her nose. He was right. May all the gods of the underworld and Olympus alike damn him, but _Hypnos_ of all people was right. And horrifically perceptive while he was at it.

Everyone knew by now what Zagreus was attempting. Everyone knew he had help. Everyone knew he was getting past Megaera, at least once in a while. 

Everyone knew she was failing.

They didn’t know why. 

Megaera stood. Hypnos squeaked with surprise beneath her. 

“You’re right,” she said.

“Hey, where are you going?” Hypnos said. Megaera was already headed for the exit. “I didn’t mean that you should see her _right now_.” 

Hypnos’s complaints faded to a whine as Megaera left the lounge behind and went searching for Nyx, mother of night, daughter of Chaos and perhaps Megaera’s last hope.

#

Megaera had to wind through the halls of the House of Hades for what felt like ages before she finally discovered Nyx. The house was far more than just the entrance hall where the dead arrived. It twisted and turned like a catacomb, chambers leading to other chambers leading to halls and dead ends and large open areas that defied the logic of space and time.

Megaera found Nyx in a quiet chamber off to the side, a place most commonly used for storing centaur hearts, as evidenced by the empty shelves along the walls. Now, it contained only Nyx herself, sitting in a corner and … painting, of all things, painting like a human with brushes and ink and a little cup of water. 

Until that moment, Megaera had pounded through the house with an almost frantic urgency, but she stopped short in the entryway to that chamber, her haste forgotten in Nyx’s presence. What was the mother of night doing using a flimsy brush and oils when she could summon the night canopy itself at a thought?

“The humans have a saying.” Nyx spoke without looking up or acknowledging Megaera’s arrival at all. “Not even the gods fight necessity.” 

“Nyx...”

Megaera took a tentative step into the chamber and Nyx regarded her at last, hands stilling as she turned in her chair. “What can I do for you, child?” 

“I...” Megaera hesitated, but what was the point in pretending? If Nyx didn’t already know everything, she would soon. Still, she deflected. “What are you doing?”

“Painting.” Nyx set her brush down on the table, standing and leaving the little desk behind.

“Why?”

Nyx smiled. For a moment, it reminded Megaera a little of Hypnos’s perpetual grin, slightly amused but at a joke only he understood. 

“Because it is pleasant,” Nyx said. “Why have you come here, child? It was certainly not to observe my hobbies.” 

Megaera couldn’t manage to summon the words she needed. How did she tell Nyx she was a failure? It would have been one thing if it was mere incompetence, something Megaera stood a chance of fixing, but the truth was...

“Zagreus got out of Tartartus,” Megaera said. “He is in Asphodel now, maybe even Elysium.”

“I see,” Nyx said. Her expression did not change, the news leaving no visible effect on her smooth features. 

Maybe it wasn’t that Hypnos was always laughing and smirking, Megaera suddenly thought. Maybe he was just as infuriatingly unflappable as the rest of his family. 

“Does it trouble you?” Nyx said.

“Yes,” Megaera said. Nyx waited, merely watching, and Megaera added in a grumble: “Not in the way it should though.” 

“I see,” Nyx said. 

She returned to the desk and her painting. It should have been a relief to Megaera to gain a breath of space, but she couldn’t relax no matter the distance. 

Nyx retrieved her painting and and turned to hold it up for Megaera. It seemed to be a garden of some sort, but this was nothing like the purple-black gardens of the underworld. The grass was green and vibrant, the crops golden, the river beside the plot clear and blue. 

“What is that?” Megaera said. 

“It is not in my nature to love the sunshine,” Nyx said. She set the picture aside. “And yet I cannot but think of its warmth on my skin. Even the deepest night is warm up there sometimes.” 

“Are you talking about the surface?” 

Nyx approached. It took everything within Megaera not to back away. She braced, expecting a rebuke, perhaps even a slap or strike, but when Nyx reached for her she slid her cool hand gently along Megaera’s jaw. 

“It is a difficult thing to be in love, is it not?” Nyx said. “It pits us against our own nature, makes us do things previously unthinkable, makes us violate the laws we once held dear.”

“I don’t know,” Megaera said. Her voice sounded thin even to her own ears. 

“Don’t you?”

Nyx didn’t give Megaera time to respond. She leaned in, her cool lips brushing against Megaera’s. It was the lightest of touches, like a breath of wind passing over Megaera’s mouth, but it sent shivers down her throat. 

Megaera reached for more, hands ending up on Nyx’s sides. It was intensely strange to stand there holding the mother of night herself, but Megaera didn’t care when Nyx’s mouth pressed harder against hers. She tasted dusk: the distant warmth of the stars, the exhale of the earth as it cooled. 

But there was something more under it all, something far less distant and inconceivable. It was Nyx, her mouth soft and warm and enticing, her tongue pushing into Megaera’s mouth, her hand still cupping Meg’s jaw. Megaera never would have presumed that there was something so ordinary and tangible to Nyx, something so attainable, but now that she felt and tasted and smelled it, it did not surprise her at all. Her sons did not hide it so well – this was Charon’s strange charity, Thanatos’s reluctant generosity, Hypnos’s calculated comfort. Nyx’s sons had learned well.

Nyx eased away, eyes of midnight gazing into Megaera’s. Was she searching for something? If so, what did she hope to find? 

For a moment, Megaera feared she was looking for weakness, measuring Megaera’s worth on some unseen scale. There was no hope that Megaera would measure up. All she could do was hold still and wait for judgment. 

But Nyx only smiled. This time, it was softer. It didn’t curl at the edges. It didn’t conceal some secret joke. 

“Come, stay with me for an evening,” Nyx said. “I believe we might ease each other’s troubles, if only for a moment.” 

“But what of–”

Nyx put a finger to Megaera’s lips. “Set them aside for now. You cannot fight if you are chained down with worry.”

Megaera nodded, but it was clear Nyx saw her lingering doubt. 

“But I will fail no matter what I do,” Megaera said. “Soon I won’t even be pretending. Soon I won’t be able to stop him.” 

“I know,” Nyx said. 

“Then tell me what to do.” 

Nyx stroked her thumbs on Megaera’s cheeks. “Spend some time with me.”

“How will that help? What difference will that make?”

“Perhaps none, but it does not change that it is what you need.” 

Megaera wanted to argue more, but the heat that flushed through her body stayed her lips. Gods, it was true. She felt it suddenly, thunderously, undeniably. She didn’t even realize she was leaning forward until her chest ached, hands trembling as she yearned to reach out. 

She moved in a rush. Nyx made a little sound of surprise or annoyance or interest or _something_ as Meg pushed her against the wall. Suddenly, Megaera was in control, brushing Nyx’s hair aside so she could kiss at her neck. 

Nyx sighed over her. “That’s good, Meg. Take what you need, everything you need.” 

Megaera meant to. Some fever washed through her body, urging her on. She unfastened Nyx’s heavy pauldrons and let them fall to the floor, then started searching for clasps or ties on her clothing. There was so gods damned much adorning Nyx. Megaera had never noticed until this moment, but now all the layers of silk and golden necklaces and violet jewels seemed outrageous hindrances. 

Perhaps Nyx sensed her frustration. She pushed Megaera away by the shoulders. Megaera blinked and in the next instant Nyx was bare before her, her smooth gray skin fully exposed. 

Megaera allowed herself a moment to gape, a moment to stand in awe at what Nyx offered. But only a moment. She could not spend too long thinking, lest she lose her nerve. Megaera clung to the madness surging through her blood as she dove for Nyx’s skin.

Nyx gasped when Megaera groped one breast, even while she nipped at her collar. Nyx’s hand went to Megaera’s long ponytail. Gods, how Megaera wanted her to pull on it. For now, however, Nyx merely set a hand there, a threat and a promise but nothing more. 

“It is so very human to indulge this way,” Nyx murmured. Perhaps she even laughed. Megaera wasn’t listening anymore. 

She hiked up one of Nyx’s legs, pressing in close, placing their bodies against each other while she went on sucking and licking up Nyx’s neck. Nyx hooked her leg over Megaera’s hips, tugging her in even closer.

“You have so much clothing on,” Nyx said. 

That was a fair point, but Megaera wasn’t in the mood for taking direction. Her mouth left Nyx’s neck with a wet pop. Megaera grabbed Nyx’s wrists, pinning them over her head. 

“I will undress when I see fit,” Megaera said. 

Nyx’s smile was not mocking. “Very well.” 

Still, Megaera took the time to unhook her gorget and toss her armor to the floor. That bit was clearly in the way. Megaera was done dealing with obstacles this day. 

She turned Nyx around and pushed her against the wall. That smile may not have been mocking, but Megaera still wasn’t keen on it. She ran her hand over Nyx’s ass, squeezing that soft swell of flesh. Then she stepped in close, tugging Nyx against her by the hip. Nyx’s hands were still above her head, pressing against the wall so she could push her hips at Megaera. 

“No more talk,” Megaera said. 

Nyx did not respond except to grind her hips backward.

That was answer enough. Megaera slid her hand down, intentionally taking her time with it. She felt the heat of Nyx’s pussy before she even reached it. She found Nyx wet and eager for her when her finger reached Nyx’s hole. Megaera grazed the tip of her finger over Nyx, a soft touch, a breath of cool air in the night. 

Nyx sucked in a sharp breath, the first genuine reaction Megaera had seen from her tonight. Megaera ran her finger back over Nyx’s entrance and Nyx moaned, fresh wetness coating Megaera’s skin. 

Megaera withdrew her finger, regarding the slick tip. 

“You like that, hm?” she said. 

Nyx let out a huff of breath, nodding. 

“Good.”

Meg’s hips were flush against Nyx’s ass as Megaera leaned in to reach around Nyx and poke her finger into Nyx’s mouth. Nyx seemed surprised for an instant, then she sucked on the finger coated in her own wetness. Her tongue lapped at the digit. Megaera started pumping that finger into Nyx’s mouth and got a muffled moan for her efforts. 

Megaera added a second finger, challenging Nyx’s mouth, pushing deeper to see if she’d take it. She did, sucking on Meg, running her tongue between the fingers, groaning around them. 

When Megaera pulled her fingers free and returned them to Nyx’s pussy, both were soaked. Meg could scarcely tell the difference between the slickness on her fingers and slickness between Nyx’s legs. 

“So wet for me,” Megaera said.

She trailed her fingers along Nyx’s cunt, a light touch, but Nyx bucked against her hand all the same, her ass shoving back against Megaera. Megaera had a vertiginous moment of wondering how coming here seeking advice had turned into _this_ , but she quickly didn’t care. Nyx was grinding against her hand, begging with all but words. She was so wet Megaera knew it would take little more than a thought to get inside her and gods, that sounded wonderful. Wonderful and terrifying. 

Megaera did it anyway. 

She slid one finger against and into Nyx, easing in to the first knuckle, then the second. Nyx let out a sigh full of other sighs and rocked her hips back. 

Meg left her with just that one finger at first, going slow, teasing out every little shudder and whimper she could. Nyx reacted beautifully, swaying on Megaera’s hand, fucking herself when Megaera tried to hold back. 

“Do not relent,” Nyx said. Her voice was low and husky.

Megaera gave her more, slipping in that other finger, pumping both into her. Meg gripped Nyx’s hip, holding her steady as she drove her fingers into her warmth. Even Nyx’s skin was hot now. It was such a contrast to what Megaera was used to from her, all this sweat and heat and quivering. Gone was the cool control, the impassive watching. Nyx shoved herself back onto Megaera’s pounding hand, her moans filling the strange little room. 

Nyx clenched around Megaera’s fingers. All that heat pressed in closer, gathering up like a storm about to break. Megaera just pumped harder and faster, finally giving Nyx what she so clearly needed. The farce of control fell away as Nyx curled her back and Meg drove her over the edge. 

Warmth and wetness gushed onto Megaera’s hand. Nyx let out a cry, loud and shuddering and accompanied by trembling thighs. 

Megaera guided her through it, every pulsing beat of it, then eased her fingers free. Nyx turned, slouching against the stone as she faced Megaera. She draped her arms over Meg’s shoulders, pulling her in closer for a kiss. Her mouth was still cool and sweet, even as heat sloughed off the rest of her body. 

Without a word, Nyx broke the kiss and started sliding down until she was on her knees. Megaera braced against the wall over her. She did not stop Nyx as she tugged on Megaera’s leggings, pulling them down to her ankles. 

Nyx looked up just once, golden eyes ablaze. Then she kissed her way up Megaera’s legs, lingering, taking her time climbing over the swell of Meg’s thighs to the crook between leg and hip. 

Nyx licked at tremulous skin and Megaera sucked in a breath. She expected some remark about being too sensitive but Nyx mercifully said nothing, just kept trailing kisses over Megaera’s skin until she was licking between her legs.

Nyx’s tongue opened Megaera to her, prodding until she could swirl around Meg’s clit. Then she added her fingers, keeping Megaera exposed to her tongue’s ministrations. 

Megaera curled her hands against the stone wall as though trying to dig through it and huffed out hot breaths. She was grateful for the solidity of that wall and for her foresight in leaning against it. Nyx was undoing her so quickly it was almost embarrassing. It was all Meg could do to merely pant and not make some even more pathetic noise as Nyx’s tongue dug deeper. 

The pretense fell away when Nyx added a finger. All she did was tease it along Meg’s entrance, but that was all she needed to do. Megaera yelped, all the moans she’d held back until this moment bubbling out in one high-pitched cry. 

Nyx hummed against her, the note of approval (or perhaps amusement) shivering up into Megaera’s gut. Somehow her tongue kept working through it, swirling and teasing and sending lightning streaking up through Megaera’s body. 

Meg lost her sense of the specifics. Nyx’s tongue became just another fire burning through her body. The heat that had started in her cunt was welling up now, filling her stomach, creeping into her throat to drown her. She tilted her head back, letting some of the pressure out through moans and whines, but Nyx just kept pushing somewhere beneath her, driving her on, forcing more heat into her body. Gods, she’d never known so much heat. And for Nyx to be the one to deliver it, to warm this cold place – it only made it more disorienting. 

She reached down, hoping to find Nyx’s hair to cling to. Meg felt something like hair, silky and fine, but there was more. Megaera’s hand slipped through something cold, fathomless, inconceivable. It was still Nyx, but this was not her corporeal body, the form she wore merely to be perceptible to the other denizens of the underworld. 

No, this was something more fundamental to her nature. Meg touched night itself for a moment, deep and dark and brimming with secret life. It sent her reeling. Her legs threatened to buckle. She swayed, dizzy from the rush of novel sensation.

And then her hand passed through, finding something solid on the other side. Megaera gasped. All the heat returned. She clung to silken strands of hair and Nyx murmured under her – perhaps from the pull, but Megaera suspected it was from that other touch, that brush of Megaera’s hand against her very nature.

Slipping away from this plane for an instant made it all the more shocking to return. Megaera’s body had moved on without her, coiling tight around the pressure in her gut, the heat in her pussy, the tremble in her throat. Her nails scratched against the stone of the wall. Her hips were moving, rocking against Nyx’s mouth. 

Suddenly, Megaera was overwhelmed by her own need. She hadn’t arrived here thinking she needed anything but advice – and certainly not this. Yet now her body made its demands known. 

She moaned against the stone, no longer caring about the noise, using the hand in Nyx’s hair to press her even closer. Her tongue thrummed against Megaera’s clit, building and building and building that pressure until finally it had to release.

Megaera arched as it did, letting out a cry. Her whole body shuddered, simultaneously rigid and boneless. 

Her hand eased as the pleasure passed. She sank to the floor to kneel with Nyx, who opened her arms the moment Megaera lowered to her level. 

Megaera didn’t bother with the pretense of denying the invitation. She melted into Nyx’s embrace, head against her chest. Nyx set her arms around Megaera, a support more than a vice, and let Megaera just breathe against her.

“I needed that,” Megaera said.

Nyx stroked her hair. “I know.” 

Megaera let a sigh escape. “But it does not solve anything.”

“No,” Nyx agreed, “it does not. But perhaps you will find that you think more clearly with your mind at ease.” 

Megaera doubted that at the moment, but she didn’t bother arguing. Nyx was probably right, in the end. It was mere stubbornness to deny her again.

“You are helping him,” Nyx said. “Or, at least, you are not hindering him.”

“Yes,” Megaera said. That single word felt almost as good as what Nyx had done her a moment ago. Saying it out loud, admitting it, and to Nyx out of anyone else – it was like taking off over-sized armor. Concealing the truth had never truly protected Megaera; it simply weighed her down. 

“I don’t know what to do now,” Megaera said against Nyx’s cool skin. “It is my job to stop him, but...”

“But,” Nyx said, “it is against your nature.”

“My nature?” Megaera hadn’t expected that response.

“We are not like mortals,” Nyx said. “We are not so malleable, so … free. There is some essential nature in all of us, including you and your sisters. You punish the unjust, yes? Oath breaking, infidelity, theft. But has Zagreus truly committed any of these crimes?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“Precisely, child, and thus your heart is troubled when you must stand against him.”

Megaera pushed up to sit. She faced Nyx, who looked serene despite still being naked on the floor of this strange little chamber. 

“He is breaking his oath,” Megaera said. “That should be enough.”

“Is he?” Nyx said.

“Y-yes. Yes. Of course. He...” 

“What oath did he swear to his father or this house?” Nyx said. “Do you know? Are you sure?”

Megaera sat, staring at the floor while she chewed over the words. There had to be something. There had to be some reason. Why was she constantly placed in his path if he hadn’t broken an oath, or worse? She scrambled to discover some sort of justification, yet the more she thought the fewer answers she could produce.

She looked up, right into Nyx’s golden eyes. “Then why do I hate him so much? If he has done nothing wrong, nothing worth punishing, why does part of me want to?” 

Nyx did not smile, but her face softened. Gentle fingers stroked along Megaera’s thigh. 

“When we are hurt, we either reach out or lash out, do we not?” Nyx said. 

Hurt. Hurt? Megaera balked at the mere suggestion, but when she tried to refute it she found her jaw clamped shut. Her chest felt tight. Her body ached as though she’d just been through some battle. 

“Blood and darkness,” she spat. “I hate this.”

“I know,” Nyx said. “I do not envy you the position you are in, child. It is not an easy one.”

“What do I do?” Megaera wasn’t asking as a matter of duty anymore and Nyx wasn’t responding as her superior. They’d gone well past that line already.

Nyx stood. Megaera remained on the floor, just watching as Nyx waved her clothing back onto her body and paced across the room. She returned with something in her hands, a small mirror in a golden frame. She sat before Megaera, offering her the item. 

“What is this?” Meg said.

“You are not the only one who is conflicted,” Nyx said. 

Megaera turned the mirror over in her hands. At first, it seemed like a mere trinket. Then she felt the power lurking in it, cold and dark and brimming with secret life, the same feeling she’d gotten when she touched Nyx. 

“This is your power,” Megaera said. “This is...”

“Yes,” Nyx said. 

“You gave him one too.” 

It wasn’t a question, but Nyx nodded all the same. 

“Why? You … you can’t. Hades...”

This time, Nyx did smile. “I am far older than Hades, far older than any but Chaos themself. Though I am, to some degree, bound by duty to this place, I do not act because Hades orders me to.”

Megaera shook her head, struggling to take all this in. In some sense, it was a relief to discover she wasn’t the only one in this house secretly trying to help Zagreus on his mad quest. But in another, it was utterly terrifying. They were defying Hades himself and they had no idea what the consequences might be. He made it sound like Zagreus reaching the surface would not just be annoying, but disastrous – disastrous for all of them. 

“That mirror is for you,” Nyx said. “It will allow you to see what you need to see.”

“What do I do with that?”

“Whatever you wish,” Nyx said. “I know you will make the correct choice, when given the opportunity to do so.”

Still, Meg hesitated. “Nyx, this is too much. I can’t do this on my own. I don’t even know if it’s the right thing to do.”

Nyx set a hand over Megaera’s. “Neither do I,” she said. “Sometimes it is just as well to do something merely because it is pleasant, though. See if that mirror does not lead you where you need to go. If it does not, return to your duty. Stand guard in Tartarus. Kill him as often as you can. It will make little difference.

“But if it does,” Nyx said, “if it happens to lead you precisely where you need to go, then perhaps it is not such a bad thing after all, hm?” 

Nyx helped Megaera to stand. Megaera righted her clothing, then Nyx closed Meg’s hands around the mirror. 

“Thank you for visiting me today, child,” Nyx said. “Please, know that I stand behind you on this journey.”

“Thank you, Nyx,” Megaera said. 

She wanted to say more. Perhaps she should have said more. But she could think of no words adequate to convey the secret they now cradled in their overlapping hands. So Megaera merely hugged the little mirror to her chest, nodding to Nyx before turning and leaving the chamber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure exactly when the next chapter is coming, but it won't be too long. 
> 
> **Next time:** Megaera uses the mirror. It leads her to Elysium.
> 
> \-- 
> 
> I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/purplebookcover) (18+ please).
> 
> I respond to every comment. Thank you, friends!


	2. Theseus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Megaera doesn't understand what the mirror is trying to show her, where she should go, how she can help Zagreus. Then she glimpses the portrait of the King of Athens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Humiliation, dick stepping, mild choking.

Megaera watched Zagreus crawl out of the Styx. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, but it did not hide his sigh. 

Megaera turned away as he trudged up the steps out of the pool. The mural before her might have been interesting if she was actually looking at it, but at the moment her attention was entirely focused on trying to pick out the conversation happening behind her. 

“Got ya again, huh?” Hypnos said.

Zagreus sighed. “Hello, Hypnos.”

“That Theseus is a tough one. You know he was a king?”

“I’ve heard,” Zagreus said. “I nearly had him though. One more clear shot. If only that damn shield weren’t constantly in my way, I’d have him.”

“Oooh, sounds like you’re getting pretty close,” Hypnos said. “I’m sure you’ll get him one day!”

A huff of breath. “When, though? I was so close this time and it still wasn’t enough.”

“Aw, don’t be too hard on yourself there, Zaggy. He was a pretty impressive guy before he, ya know, ended up here. But I guess that’s how he landed in Elysium. He’s not an easy target to knock down. Lots of heroic deeds and all that.”

“Yes, Hypnos, I assure you, I’ve heard all about it.” 

“Quite a talker, eh? Gosh, it must be really irritating losing to someone who brags that much. You should try beating him next time. That’d really put him in his place.”

“Never considered it before,” Zagreus drawled.

“Really?” Hypnos said. “Gee, Zaggy, you aren’t very good at this.”

“Hypnos.”

“Huh?”

“Please stop.” 

“You got it, chief.” 

Zagreus grumbled, footsteps scuffling over the tiled floor of the entrance hall. 

“Lost again, did you boy?” Hades rumbled. 

Megaera flinched. She expected Zagreus to bite out a response, something sharp and bitter and sarcastic, but he said nothing, footsteps disappearing down the hall. 

Megaera fished the mirror framed in gold out of her chiton. Holding it up, she could see over her own shoulder and watch Zagreus slouch away, head hanging. 

“Show me,” she whispered. “Show me what I need to see.”

The reflection did not change. It was still Zagreus shuffling away, shoulders hunched as he turned toward his chambers and vanished from view. 

Megaera shook the stupid trinket. Thus far, it had functioned purely as an ordinary mirror. How was that supposed to help her at all? Nyx said it would show her what she needed to see, but she didn’t need any magical mirror to know Zagreus was failing over and over in Elysium, returning more downtrodden each time. 

She turned the mirror, hoping a shift in perspective might finally reveal something useful, but no matter how she looked it was still just a fucking mirror. What was Nyx thinking? 

“Megaera.”

She gasped, turning, hiding the mirror against her body. Alecto stood frowning at her, a hand on her hip. 

“What is it, sister?” Megaera said. 

Alecto jabbed her chin in the direction Zagreus had gone. “He isn’t going to lay around for long. We should get back to our duties.” 

“We have time,” Megaera said. “Or are you that nervous about Zagreus?” 

Alecto scoffed. “I’m not the one who should be nervous. It’s you he keeps slipping past.”

“Then you fight him.” 

Megaera regretted the jab as soon as she said it. Alecto just rolled her eyes. “I will,” Alecto said. “And I won’t be so gentle. You know, this little infatuation of yours is downright embarrassing, Meg.”

Megaera reached for the whip curled against her hip. “I’m not infatuated.” 

Alecto waved a hand. “Whatever you call it, it doesn’t change the result. Are you going to go do your job or not?” 

“Only if you think you need my help. Where’s Tisiphone?” 

“Tsk. She’s working. Unlike you.” Alecto scowled. “Fine, I’ll do it. You’re lucky I’m so _benevolent_ about the red blood, dearest sister.” 

Megaera glared right back as her sister faced her down. Alecto huffed and waved a hand, vanishing in a puff of green. Only then did Megaera release the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. 

She rubbed a hand over her eyes. Alecto’s suspicion was hitting closer and closer to the mark. When her patience ran out, Megaera would not expect mercy. 

Gods, what was she doing helping Zagreus like this, letting him past, rooting for him to reach the surface? Why couldn’t she just let him fail? 

Megaera raised the mirror again, but she doubted it had any answers to offer her. 

Indeed, it showed her little but the west side of the hall, the red couches, the old statues Zagreus had commissioned, the portraits along the walls. 

The portraits. 

Megaera paused. Or – no, it wasn’t merely that she paused. She felt almost stuck in place, trapped in molasses. 

Squarely in the mirror’s reflection lay the portrait of the King of Athens.

Theseus.

#

Megaera hated Elysium. It was too bright, for one thing. But even worse than the green light glaring off the crystal clear blue of the Lethe was the “heroes” who inhabited this place.

They swaggered among verdant hillsides, always with a weapon or shield in hand. Gods spare her, Theseus wasn’t even the worst of the bunch, though he may have been the loudest.

“My spear thrust through the beast’s chest and hot blood boiled out. Oh, it was like a scalding pot of boiling water, but I held fast and slew my horrible prey!” 

A cluster of shades hovered around Theseus, clinging to his every word. Megaera rolled her eyes. Her stomach roiled. Why in all the hells was she doing this? 

She took a steadying breath and marched closer. As long as she kept her head high and feet moving, she could do this. Don’t stop. Don’t think too hard. Don’t--

“My, one of the Fury Sisters, come to visit us?” Theseus said.

The shades turned, several cringing away from Megaera as she paused with her hands on her hips. 

“Not them,” Megaera said. “You.”

Theseus’s grin widened. “What an honor! And what might I do for you and your ferocious sisters?” 

Megaera ground her teeth to avoid rolling her eyes. “Come speak with me. In private.” It was bad enough she had to say these words out loud to Theseus. Megaera was going to make damn sure the rest of Elysium didn’t get to overhear them as well. 

She didn’t wait for a response before starting away. Sure enough, after a couple steps grass crunched behind her and Theseus trotted to her side. 

“You know,” Theseus said, “my chambers are but a short walk from here.” 

She glared sideways at him and he shied away, but kept pace with her. “Fine,” Megaera said. 

Theseus cleared his throat as he regained his balance. “Very well then. This way, if you please.” 

He led her over rolling hills and through calm pastures. The Lethe gurgled, a constant bubbling in the background. Butterflies danced past, warriors sparred, delicate stone bridges arched over thin sections of river. 

Megaera despised it. Was this really the reward these “heroes” looked forward to? A life of comfort and ease and stagnation beside a river that would make them forget anything that might have been difficult or upsetting? How was that a reward? 

There were structures as well: Fenced in gardens, marble columns studding flights of stairs that looked beautiful but went nowhere, and, of course, the great arena with its rows and rows of seating surrounding a sandy pit for combat. It was here that Theseus veered off the path, leading Megaera into and through the arena, to a door at the back. Stone halls wound through the interior of the arena, depositing Theseus and Megaera at a plain wooden door.

“Perhaps not chambers fit for a king,” Theseus said, “but still quite adequate.”

“Quite adequate,” in Theseus’s estimation, encompassed a suite of richly furnished rooms. The first one they stepped into was a small entryway where Theseus kicked off his sandals before heading deeper into the apartments.

Megaera left her boots on, entering a wide, open living chamber that somehow had sunlight streaming in through tall glass windows. Couches and divans offered comfort in nearly every corner. A plush carpet made from the fur of some surface beast warmed the floor. Incense burned, suspended from the ceiling in cages with golden chains. And, of course, there were portraits. Megaera had to look at so many renderings of Theseus himself she could hardly figure out which was the man she’d come here to speak with.

Theseus threw himself onto one of the divans, lying on his side with a hand propping up his head. “Megaera, your visit truly honors me. What might I aid you with?”

Megaera took a breath. Patience. Somehow, she had to summon patience. She sat across from Theseus, on a couch that attempted to swallow her in its soft cushions.

“I want you to lose,” Megaera said.

Theseus’s eyelids fluttered. “Excuse me?” 

Megaera struggled to unclench her teeth enough to speak. “The next time Zagreus arrives here, I want you to lose to him. Fall. Allow him to pass.”

Theseus sat up. In some ways, it was a relief to see that insufferable grin vanish, but Megaera’s stomach still churned at the astonished look he leveled at her. 

“Do you understand what you ask?” Theseus said.

“Yes,” she said.

“But I-I could not possibly.”

“Why not?” Megaera bit out. “He must be getting close. He’s nearly defeated you before. A small stumble is all it would take.”

Theseus gathered himself, sitting up straighter, pushing his shoulders back. Megaera had to remind herself not to roll her eyes as he puffed out his chest. 

“I am a king,” Theseus said. “A leader of men. I was a hero in my age. That is why I was given the honor of eternal rest here in Elysium. It is preposterous to suggest I intentionally lose a battle with an inferior foe.”

“Is he really that inferior if you’re barely winning, Theseus?”

Color rose in Theseus’s cheeks. “I would not call it ‘barely.’”

“Zagreus would.”

The color drained. Theseus narrowed his eyes. “The blackguard is spreading lies, then, is he? Somehow I am not surprised by this distressing news. A fiend like Zagreus would speak ill of a king and hero valiantly slaying him and returning him to the pit whence he belongs.” 

Megaera balled her hands into fists. 

“And you,” Theseus said, “you would ask me to intentionally fall to him? To give honor and glory to a wretched hellspawn such as the son of Hades?” 

“You will mind your tongue,” Megaera gritted.

Theseus stopped, seeming to remember at last just whom he was speaking to. 

“I meant no offense,” Theseus said. “The Furies are, of course, honorable in their duty. Why, without you and your sisters, all manner of foulness would go unpunished for eternity.” 

“Right.” 

He continued, but Megaera stopped listening. His opinion on her and her sisters wasn’t important. All that mattered was that he agreed to do as she asked. Zagreus needed to get through Elysium. Beyond these verdant hills, he’d face an even more difficult trial, but Megaera could not help him with that. 

She glanced at Theseus. He was talking with his hands almost as much as his mouth, waving broadly, gesturing at the fine things all about the apartment, including statues and trophies and paintings of a younger, long-haired Theseus wearing nothing but an azure cloak.

Megaera sighed through her nose. Gods spare her this wretched duty. A man like Theseus wasn’t going to be swayed by words alone. He was too proud, too boastful, too resplendent in his own mind. 

That last might be fixable, however. 

Megaera rose. Theseus ceased speaking, cringing back on his divan. She stepped close, towering over him, even taller in her heeled boots. She thumbed at the whip curled at her hip. 

“Theseus, have you ever considered the great virtue of surrender?” Megaera said.

He stared mutely up at her, mouth slightly agape. “N-no,” he said when he recovered. “No, of course not.”

“What do you mean ‘of course?’ The greatest heroes all understood that surrender could be … advantageous.” 

“I daresay they could not. Great Achilles–” 

“Great Achilles serves the House of Hades for eternity now, as you well know,” Megaera said.

“Even so,” he said, though his voice had gone softer.

Megaera put a foot up on the divan, hunching onto her knee to loom into his space. She released the whip on her hip, letting it uncoil on the floor. Megaera used the handle of the weapon to tilt Theseus’s chin up and force him to meet her gaze.

“There is great virtue in embracing weakness,” Megaera said. “In understanding when your place is beneath someone and not above. In surrendering body and soul to another.” 

Theseus’s lip quivered. “I-I am a champion, a hero. I was placed in Elysium because of–” he swallowed “–because of my worthy deeds and the bravery of my soul.”

“I’m sure you were,” Megaera said. “I do not refute it. I merely suggest that tasting the other side of valor might make your next victory all the sweeter.”

“Yet you ask me to lose, to fail.”

“Not forever,” she said. “Not every time. Just … sometimes.” 

Something cracked in his expression. Theseus looked up at her with wide, pleading eyes. “And what if he comes to best me in earnest. He...” Theseus’s voice dropped to a whisper. “He is not far off. You will not need to request this of me for long.”

“Is that not all the more thrilling?” Megaera said. “Do you truly wish to spend eternity battling a rival you can defeat easily? He will improve you, Theseus. He will improve you through struggle, through battle, but not if he gives up now.”

Theseus swallowed. “And how might I … learn of surrender?” 

Theseus’s eyes flickered down Megaera’s body. A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. She did not think she needed to leave the whip in place to keep his head tilted up, but there was a certain satisfaction in applying pressure and watching him struggle not to squirm away. 

“Perhaps I will instruct you,” Megaera said, “if you ask nicely.”

His mouth hardened. So proud, this one, but Megaera had broken plenty of proud men. It was perhaps her favorite aspect of her duties. Theseus would crumble like the rest. 

The thin line of his lips slackened. “It is always noble to pursue knowledge of what one lacks.”

“Noble, indeed,” Megaera said. 

She eased slowly away. Theseus’s eyes watched her the entire way, transfixed on every move. Good, she needed him attentive for this.

Megaera took her foot off the divan, then held the whip in both hands, stance wide and commanding. 

“On the floor,” she said. 

Only after his knees hit the wooden paneling did Theseus seem to realize what he’d done. His eyes widened, but he stayed there kneeling before her, waiting for instruction.

“My, but you do catch on quickly,” Megaera said. “Perhaps you are not as much of a lost cause as I feared.”

“N-no, of course not, I–”

“I did not tell you to speak,” Megaera said.

He snapped his mouth shut. Again, that look of surprise streaked across his face, yet Theseus held silent. 

Megaera paced away, leaving him there, letting her boots tap out loud, measured beats on the floor. She walked slowly, wandering in a loop through the room. 

She paused before one of the paintings of Theseus. He stood completely nude, that azure mantle about his shoulders, a laurel crowning his long, golden hair. His hands were on his hips, smile toothy and dazzling.

“No one ever told you no in life, did they?” Megaera said.

Silence greeted her question.

She turned and faced him. Theseus was still kneeling, jaw flexing as he ground his teeth to keep his mouth shut. 

“You may answer,” she said.

“No,” he said. 

“Ma’am,” she said. “You will address me as ma’am.” It was pushing it a little, but Megaera had long, long years of practice. She was betting on her intuition, on instincts she’d honed to razor sharpness. 

“No, ma’am,” he said after a moment. Color rose into his cheeks.

Megaera’s smile curled. “I would say that’s a pity, but it does afford me this opportunity to instruct you myself. And you do want to be instructed, don’t you, King?”

“I do,” he said, his response puffing out in a breath. “Ma’am.” 

“Very well then.” 

She continued her loop through the room, boots tapping out that slow, slow beat. Megaera did not need to look to know his eyes followed every move, so she stroked her whip instead, running the tail through her hands. When she returned to Theseus, she tossed it aside. The weapon clattered across the floor, out of reach. 

“D-do you not need that, ma’am?” Theseus said. “For my instruction, perhaps, ma’am?” 

“That is a method you must earn,” Megaera said. “Do you think you’ve earned that?”

“No, ma’am,” Theseus said. “Not yet, ma’am.”

“Not yet, hm? You are quite the optimist, an admirable quality, so long as it does not lead you to delusion.”

“It won’t, ma’am.” 

“Oh, I know,” Megaera said. “I’ll make sure of it.” She eyed him up and down. “The belt and pteruges. Gone. Now. You’ll wear no armor with me.” 

He scrambled to obey, fingers fumbling as he unhooked his belt and tossed it away. The armored skirt went next and Theseus kneeled before her in only a cloth chiton. 

“Put a pillow under your knees,” Megaera said. “You will be in that position quite a while.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He tore pillows off the divan and placed them under his knees. 

“Comfortable?”

“Yes, ma’am.” 

He would not stay comfortable long, but his knees were not her target. 

Megaera leaned down, setting a hand on his shoulder, hunching close. She snuck her foot between his legs as she did. A little pressure sent him down so that he was sitting instead of standing up on his knees. A light touch along his lips and he opened his mouth obediently. He truly did have a talent for subservience. How long had he waited for someone to instruct him? Or perhaps that companion of his, Asterius, had done some of the work for her already. Theseus was willing and eager when Megaera slid two fingers into his mouth, feeling along his tongue. 

“Close,” she said and he tightened his lips around her. 

She kept the pace slow, pumping in and out, rubbing along his tongue. Theseus sucked on her fingers without even being told. He even flicked his tongue up, greeting her fingers as she slid them in deeper and held them there. 

His eyes never left hers, even as color bled into his face, darkening his cheeks as it lighted his eyes. 

Megaera jerked back, abruptly picking up her pace, testing his resilience. He choked but held firm as she thrust swiftly into his mouth. His lips parted as he coughed around her, but he closed them just as quickly, sucking again the moment he was able.

Meg glanced sideways at the whip she’d thrown to the floor. She almost regretted it now. Theseus was licking at her fingers like he meant to survive off just the taste of her skin. She longed to know what he might do with the handle of her whip in his mouth instead. 

She shook herself. She had to hold firm. She was here to instruct, to enlighten. But gods, Theseus was a willing student, far more willing than she’d anticipated. 

She edged her foot nearer to his crotch, lifting her toes. Megaera placed them against his groin, so lightly it hardly disturbed the fabric of his chiton, but he moaned immediately, the sound vibrating around her hand.

Megaera pressed harder. With each tick of force Theseus only moaned more, lips gripping her fingers tight. She rocked her foot over him, mussing the fabric of his chiton. Even through the clothing and her boot, she felt him harden at the touch, cock straining against her foot. She pressed it down firmly and his mouth opened around her fingers to release a groan. 

Theseus’s breaths huffed out audibly now. His cheeks burned with heat. Megaera glanced again toward her whip, longing to stuff his mouth full. Her strap would be even better, but she hadn’t thought to bring it. 

Megaera withdrew everything all at once. Theseus whined from the lack in his mouth and against his cock. She glared down at him, delivering a swift slap, not terribly hard, but firm enough to shock him. 

“You do not beg,” Megaera said. “You receive. And you are grateful for it.”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Yes, ma’am.” 

She snorted. She was already regretting the decision she was about to make, but it wasn’t really for Theseus’s benefit, in the end. Besides, he clearly needed something larger than fingers for proper instruction. This was all part of the lesson. 

The excuses stacked up in Megaera’s mind as she stomped to the whip and retrieved it.

“I thought you said–”

He snapped his mouth shut as she turned and glared.

“You thought nothing,” Megaera said. “And you shall say nothing. Not unless you are bidden to do so.”

He nodded in response. 

She returned in swift steps, taking his chin in her hand. “Open.”

He did. For a moment, she just peered at his mouth, grimacing. “You open so wide at the merest suggestion. You must give your mouth to all who request it. Filthy.”

He looked like he wanted to protest, but managed to hold still. 

“I shall fill it for you,” Megaera said, “since it so clearly aches to be filled.” 

She released his chin and held up the whip before her. His eyes traced every movement as she stroked up and down the handle.

“Yes, I can see how you want it,” Megaera said. “Know you do not deserve this and did not earn it. I merely believe it will hasten your instruction.” 

He nodded, mouth still hanging open. At last, she filled it, sliding in the handle of the whip. He murmured around it. It was large enough that he had to open wider to fit it and then gagged around it. She held it stationary, let him adjust, allowed him to appreciate the stretch of his mouth. 

Theseus moaned, eyes fluttering shut. 

“Whore,” Megaera said. 

He just moaned again. 

She obliged his pathetic mewling, pushing the handle farther in, invading his mouth with persistent pressure. Breath wheezed in through his nose. She knew he was struggling to hold back the instinct to gag. His determination was almost endearing, but Megaera could not coddle him, not if he was going to learn.

She started to pump the handle, building speed as he adjusted, keeping him off balance. Theseus accepted it all, even as tears sprang to the corners of his eyes. 

Megaera added her foot, placing the toe of her boot on his chiton right over his hard cock. He whined around the whip handle, loud and high, drooling as she fucked his mouth with her weapon. 

“Disgusting,” she said. “Drooling on my shoes like a senseless animal. Is this behavior befitting a king?” 

She pressed down harder with her boot and he shuddered beneath her, hips jerking. The sounds clogging up his throat burst free in moans and murmurs. Megaera grabbed his hair, pulling hard to tilt his head back. She held the whip in deep and he groaned around it, throat working like he was trying to drink down her spend. Oh, how she longed to be able to fill him as he wished. Some day, she resolved, but not this day.

“I’ve done enough of this for you,” Megaera said. “Do it yourself.” 

He didn’t react at first, eyes still closed, head still pulled back. Even when she released him he didn’t move for a moment, mouth still full of the whip handle. Then, finally, he started to bob along the handle, taking it in and out on his own, riding up and down it with his mouth. 

“Come, King, you can do better than that,” Megaera said. “Take it as deep as you can.”

Theseus paused at that. He opened his eyes, water spilling down his cheeks, and looked right up at her. Then he shoved himself down the handle, fucking his own mouth at a furious pace. 

Megaera bit her lip as she watched. Theseus’s whole torso moved with his efforts, which caused his cock to shift under her boot as well. She rewarded him with more pressure, rubbing her foot over him as he worked the whip handle admirably. 

His whines took on a desperate pitch. She knew he was twitching under her, cock straining for release.

“You don’t come until I give you permission,” Megaera said. “Do you understand?”

“Mmm,” he moaned, nodding as he went on sucking the handle. 

“Good,” she said. “You aren’t ready yet. If I were to let you come that quickly, what would you learn? What would you gain from this?” 

He responded by driving his mouth down the handle so deep he gagged, but Theseus merely drew back, sucked in a breath and kept at it. Megaera was very nearly tempted to praise him for his steadfastness, but there was no sense in undoing all this good work. 

Instead, she stroked with her foot, rubbing over him, seeing how much he could take. He whined like a kicked dog and rocked his whole body. His revolutions on the handle started to mimic the motion of Megaera’s foot on his dick. He gripped his own thighs with white-knuckled hands to aid his momentum. 

Each beat now brought with it a whimper. His body trembled. He gagged himself with the handle, yet kept going at it, his determination plain. 

Megaera didn’t know if this was enough, if he understood, if he’d act accordingly, but she knew he was close to shattering; a broken king would not aid her cause.

“Come,” she said.

He cried out around the handle, his body jerking and shuddering beneath her. His hips rutted against her boot in jerky thrusts as waves of release thundered through him one after another. 

At last, his body calmed, slackening. Megaera dragged the whip handle out of his mouth and left him sitting on the floor against his divan to recover. She used his fine crimson curtains to clean the saliva off the handle. Thankfully, Theseus’s chiton had protected her boot from being soiled. 

When she turned, Theseus yet slouched on the floor, one arm draped over the divan, his head against the seat. He was breathing hard. As Megaera approached, she noticed the wetness staining his chiton. 

“It is a shame the Furies are not always held in the same esteem as other gods,” Theseus said, eyes still closed, cheeks still bright. “Truly, they underestimate your power.”

Megaera bit back a smile. “Flattery, Theseus? How pathetic.” 

He crawled onto the divan, lying back with a sigh. “I do not flatter,” he said. “It is simply the truth.” 

“Well,” Megaera said. She concentrated on coiling up her whip and reattaching it to her hip. “I hope that is not the only truth you took from this.”

He opened his eyes. Theseus raised one eyebrow, lips pressing tight. Was he trying not to smile? Well, at least she could be sure she hadn’t done some sort of psychological damage. 

“It is not,” he said. 

“Oh?” 

“I have come to appreciate your position,” Theseus said. “There is indeed virtue in surrender, in submitting yourself body and soul to a foe in order to reap greater reward in the future.”

Megaera could not help but smile. “I’m glad I could help you understand.”

“You most certainly did.” 

She snorted. “I need to go. I’ve stayed here too long. Zagreus is probably already on his way up.”

“It is likely I will be in no fit state to meet him,” Theseus said.

“Such a pity,” Megaera said.

His eyes flickered to her boots. “Indeed, it is.” 

That look was a bit too brazen for her taste. He ought to have still been more submissive than this, but that was a lesson she could reinforce over time. 

For now, she stomped toward the door. She’d done what she could here. If Zagreus still couldn’t best Theseus, he didn’t deserve to. 

“Wait,” Theseus called as she reached the door. 

Megaera paused, looking over her shoulder. He was sitting up now, hair askew and eyes wide with urgency. 

“You mean to return, don’t you?” Theseus said.

Megaera stuffed down her reaction to that plaintive request. She paused, making him wait, watching him squirm on the divan. 

“Perhaps,” she said. “If you deserve it.” 

His throat bobbed. “I understand,” he said. “Ma’am.” 

She smiled. “Very well.” 

She left the apartment then, hurrying away before she could think too hard about what she’d just suggested. Or about the wetness between her legs. 

Better for Theseus to never know about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter! 
> 
> **Next time:** Megaera has done all she can. It turns out she wasn't the only one helping him, though.
> 
> \--
> 
> I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/purplebookcover) (18+ please).
> 
> I respond to every comment. Thank you, friends!


	3. Thanatos/Zagreus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanatos and Megaera commiserate, wondering if they were right to help Zagreus and if he'll ever come home. Oh gods, what have they done?

The day before Zagreus started trying to escape was the last good day Megaera could remember.

Since then, everything had changed. It was still changing, left in flux as his trips out of the House of Hades and into the maze of the underworld got longer and longer. 

Then, mere days after Megaera’s “chat” with Theseus, Hades returned, but Zagreus did not. 

A strange hush descended over the House. Hypnos’s snoring echoed loudly in the hall until the thunder of Hades’s steps awoke him. He jerked and startled. When he saw his master lumbering toward him, his gray skin paled of any color whatsoever. Hypnos looked at his list and his eyes flew wide. Then he looked back up, mouth hanging open as the waters of the Styx dripped off Hades.

“Don’t just stare at me,” Hades rumbled. “Don’t you have work to do?” 

“Y-yes, sir,” Hypnos stammered. 

“Then do it!” 

Hades stomped past him, columns and walls trembling in his passing. 

Megaera ducked away down the hall, hopefully before Hades saw her. She walked stiffly, shoulders rigid, struggling to keep her steps even as she entered the lounge and hunched at the bar. 

Did this mean Zagreus had done it? Had he truly escaped, defeating even his father to do so?

Her heart sank at the thought, settling cool and quiet in her gut. She did not know what it meant for him to be gone. She did not know if he’d return, voluntarily or otherwise. She did not know what he’d find out there on the surface and whether it would entice him to stay up there forever. 

But she knew how her chest clenched at the mere idea. 

Megaera stood, meaning to abandon the lounge. The light from the sconces and fireplaces, as well as the cheerful voices of shades and patrons, grated at her. The moment she stepped into the hall someone said, “Meg.”

She startled, nearly leaping out of her own skin, but it was just Thanatos, quiet as a shadow beside the doorway, nearly invisible in the gloom of the House with all his grays and blacks. 

“Than, what the fuck?” Megaera snapped. It wasn’t his fault, she knew, but it still felt good to snarl at someone, to direct the pain outside herself rather than letting it boil inside. 

“Stop it,” he said. “Come on.” 

She glared, but he ignored it, turning on his heel and leaving. His casual confidence that she would follow needled at her, but if there was one soul in all of the underworld who could get away with it, it was Thanatos. 

Megaera followed, sighing even as she gave in. 

He reached the end of the hall, where a tall iron gate blocked their way. Keys jangled, then Thanatos unlocked the gate, pushing it open on creaking hinges. The fact that Dusa hadn’t obsessively lubricated the gate was proof enough of how seldom it was used. If even Dusa was overlooking it, the rest of the House certainly was as well.

Megaera’s boots crunched on pale grass. It almost looked snow-dusted, but that was no affectation of Demeter’s chilly winds. The grass simply lacked pigment. In fact, the entire garden was bleached and pale. Rather than the lively greens Megaera had heard Zagreus describe so wistfully based on paintings and books, cool purple and blue and silver calmed what might have been a riotous garden. The trees spread their branches, but their leaves were placid purple. The walkway down the center dotted the grass in gray stepping stones. The statues sat sedate upon plain marble. 

Only the fruit hanging heavy in the trees had any color, gleaming red like rubies decorating the skeletal limbs of the trees. 

Thanatos settled under a tree, banishing his scythe, leaning against the trunk with a sigh. Megaera sat beside him, resting her shoulder against his, skin to skin, like when they were far, far younger, eons younger. How long had it been since they’d sat like this in companionable silence? Thanatos had always been the one who understood best when quiet was required rather than words. Perhaps that’s why Meg had found his presence so soothing and ended up confiding in him more even than in her sisters.

Yet she was the one to speak first. 

“Do you think he’ll come back?” she said.

“I don’t know,” Thanatos said. 

“You must know.” Megaera caught herself as soon as she spoke and wished she could take the bite out of her words, but if Thanatos had noticed her tone he was not perturbed by it. He merely shrugged.

“It isn’t in my purview,” he said. 

“Even if he’s on the surface?” Megaera said. “Won’t he have to die like a mortal?”

Another shrug. “Maybe.” 

Megaera sighed, leaning back against the tree. She closed her eyes, willing her shoulders to slide away from her ears, but the tension knotted in her back was not so eager to relent. 

Thanatos’s hand slotted into hers, fingers sneaking between hers. Megaera opened her eyes, glancing down at their intertwined hands, and a smile picked at the corners of her mouth. Sometimes, lifetimes ago, they’d sat like this, hiding from Nyx or Hades or both, children by the reckonings of gods and still coming into their own powers and natures.

The confession bubbled up before Megaera could stop it. Perhaps it was just the comfort of an old friend’s presence. Perhaps she’d been waiting this whole time to tell someone, anyone who might listen kindly. 

Either way, she said, “I helped him.”

Thanatos swiveled his head, raising an eyebrow as pallid as the garden around them.

“It was so stupid,” Megaera said. “At first it was just, you know, a couple times where I might have been able to stop him, fight a little harder, but didn’t. Then...”

“Then?” 

“I … uh … I talked to Theseus.”

Both of Thanatos’s eyebrows shot up this time. 

“I swear if you say a word--” she started.

“I won’t.” He squeezed her hand. “The truth is, I helped him too.”

“What?” Megaera said. “You? You’ve always been an absolute perfectionist about work.”

Thanatos sighed and scrubbed his free hand through his hair. “I know, I know. It was absolutely stupid. But. Perhaps, sometimes, if I was in the area, I … cleared out a few shades for him.” 

“Than!” 

He cast his eyes at the ground, but she squeezed his hand. 

“I’m glad I wasn’t alone,” she said, softer. 

He looked back up and she marveled that the God of Death himself could be so shy and meek. But this was not Ares, who reveled in the killing itself, or Tisiphone and Alecto, who reveled in the punishment. Thanatos guided the souls of the dead, a necessary task, and he treated each with care, regardless of how they’d lived. Mortals saw death as terrifying and severe, but Megaera knew better.

He was quiet and diligent. And though he could be cold, Death in and of himself bore no cruelty.

She leaned toward him, but this time it was not to sag against him. Megaera peered into those calm golden eyes, somehow understated despite their color, and realized that through all their lifetimes of friendship, they’d rarely taken even this simple comfort in each other. She tasted a coolness on the air, the soothing scent of his breath. She wondered if his lips would be so cool as well. 

Thanatos gasped before she could find out, jerking upright. Megaera straightened as well, twisting to follow his gaze past her shoulder. Their hands remained interlocked and his grip seized tighter. Hers did as well when she saw what had caused such alarm.

Zagreus crunched over the purple-gray grass toward them, his flaming feet outrageously bright among the muted serenity of the gardens. 

“Zag,” Thanatos breathed. 

He swaggered right up to them, grinning down with his hands on his hips. “Well, don’t let me interrupt,” Zagreus said. “You two were having a moment.”

“Why are you here?” Thanatos said. 

“Did you make it?” Megaera said. “Did you reach the surface?”

Zagreus nodded, but his smile ticked downward for a moment, tugged into sobriety by some unseen weight. 

“Then...” Thanatos trailed off. 

Zagreus sighed and settled on the grass in front of them. His gaze swept over their hands. Zagreus took their free hands, so the three of them formed a sort of interlocked circle of reassuring squeezes. Megaera would have found it pathetic and revolting were her heart not slamming into her throat at the sight of Zagreus sitting before them. 

“I met her,” he said. “I met my mother on the surface.” Even as he grinned, his eyes shone, green and red alike going soft and misty. 

“You could not stay,” Thanatos said, only partly a question.

Zagreus shook his head. He bowed toward the ground, but that did not hide the tears dripping to the grass. “I only got a few minutes with her. Then something dragged me back. I could feel it. It was like … like a hand pulling me down.”

“Oh, Zagreus,” Megaera said. 

She should have known. They all should have known. Zagreus couldn’t leave the underworld any more than she herself could. Of course he couldn’t. Even Thanatos’s trips were on a timer. 

“I’m sorry,” Megaera said. 

Zagreus shook his head. When he looked up, his face was damp, but he smiled through it. “It was really beautiful, Meg. The sunset, the water, the birds! You’ve never seen creatures quite like them. Feeling sunlight on your skin – it’s nothing like merely being warm. It’s like … like nectar is pouring right into your chest and making you warm inside too.

“And Persephone – my mother. She was...” He stopped, apparently overcome, the tears rolling freely down his cheeks. “She was amazing.” 

“Zag,” Thanatos said.

Zagreus crumbled at last, releasing their hands to lie in Thanatos’s lap. Thanatos raked his fingers through Zagreus’s hair while he went on crying. 

“I’m sorry,” Megaera said. 

One green eye looked up at her.

“I … I tried to help,” she said, “but it doesn’t seem like it did any good.”

Zagreus jerked up. “What are you talking about? Megaera, it was incredible. It was perfect.”

“But you couldn’t stay. It didn’t matter.”

“Just because I died it doesn’t mean it didn’t matter. I met her, Meg, I really met her. And I’m going to go back and meet her again. I’m going to fight through as many times as I have to. In truth I … sorta knew you two might be trying to help. But please, don’t go to the trouble any more. I can do this and I will do this, as many times as it takes.”

“As it takes for what?” Thanatos said.

“For me to know the truth,” Zagreus said. “Why she left. Why I can’t leave. Why she didn’t know about me. Why everyone here keeps telling me I shouldn’t go to her.”

He looked so hopeful, so joyful, even with tears drying on his cheeks and his hair mussed from Than’s attention. He chattered on about his mother, about how beautiful she was, about what they’d talk about next time, about how long he thought it would take. Not a single note of fatigue weighed on him and Megaera could only sit and admire his unconquerable determination. Even after all this, he spoke of the impossible task before him as though tackling it would be his greatest joy. 

Megaera cupped his face in her hands, pulling him to her mouth, seized suddenly by the need to drag him close. He smiled against her lips, even as he returned the kiss. Perhaps she just imagined that extra sweetness on his mouth, that warmth that did not belong anywhere here in the underworld.

She could not say for certain and he did not linger long before pulling away, setting his hands over hers still on his cheeks. 

“I’m sorry for doing this to both of you,” he said. “It wasn’t for nothing, I swear it.” 

“We believe you,” Thanatos said. 

He released Megaera so he could look at them both in turn. “Do you? When I came in here, it seemed like you two were...” 

A flush crept into Thanatos’s gray cheeks. Megaera gritted her teeth. 

“We were just … commiserating,” Thanatos said. 

“Hey, I wasn’t saying it was a bad thing,” Zagreus said. “Quite the opposite. How could I be anything but enamored at seeing the people I care for the most caring for each other as well?” 

“It wasn’t really...” Thanatos plucked at the grass before him. 

Megaera cleared her throat. “We have been friends a long time, far longer than we’ve known you.”

“I know,” Zagreus said. “I always wondered how you’ve been friends for so long and never, ya know...” He lifted his eyebrows to complete the sentiment. 

Megaera had to clear her throat a second time. “It never occurred to us. Or at least to me.”

Thanatos just shook his head. He stared intently at the ground. 

Zagreus’s laughter burst out, loud and unhindered and joyful. “Clearly, I am quite considerably biased, but I find it hard to believe the two most incredible people I’ve ever met have never even thought about each other with a twinge of interest. You were practically kissing before I barged in.”

Thanatos looked up, eyes wide, cheeks flushed. Megaera pressed her lips into a tight line. She’d had plenty of Zagreus’s goading. He’d just strolled in as though he hadn’t been terrorizing the entire house for weeks in order to escape it. Now he meant to embarrass her as well. 

“We were,” Megaera said. Thanatos made some strangled noise beside her. “It was rude of you to interrupt.”

Zagreus’s smile coiled into a smirk. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

She tsked, rolling her eyes at him, then reached for Thanatos, dragging him to her by the back of the neck. She saw his eyes flutter through rapid blinks in the instant before she reached him, then her mouth smothered his little note of surprise. He held stiff at first, but soon relaxed against her. His mouth was just as cool as she’d imagined, but the shiver his kiss sent through her was not from the cold. All these long eons and he’d been right here the whole time. Why was this the first time she was tasting the firm pressure of his mouth? There was something familiar in it, something she’d known and loved for most of her long existence, but somehow never truly tasted. 

She withdrew, but with more reluctance than she’d anticipated. Thanatos did not go far, lips parted and bright. 

“We should have done that a long time ago,” Megaera said. 

Thanatos’s throat bobbed, but he nodded, still mute. She went back in for more, already missing his placid solidity. He was a stone in the middle of a raging river, a warm cloak buffeting the noise and flurry always sweeping through this place. Only now did Megaera realize this is what had drawn her to him, that it had always been the quietness of his presence that had called most loudly to her when she needed a friend and confidant. 

They heard the grass ruffle in the same moment. Thanatos and Megaera broke apart, each reaching for one of Zagreus’s wrists.

“Absolutely not,” Megaera said.

Zagreus froze, glancing at the hands keeping him in place. “Thought you might want some privacy.”

“Not from you,” Thanatos said.

“Oh.” Zagreus blinked as he looked back and forth between them. “ _Oh._ ”

“Idiot,” Megaera said, “don’t make it weird. Just come here.” 

She tugged him back to her mouth, heat returning to chase off the last of Thanatos’s soothing coolness. It proved a pleasant contrast, like a sweet dessert balancing a savory meal. One only enhanced the other. 

Thanatos was eager for his turn when Megaera relented. Zagreus hardly got a moment to breathe before Thanatos was upon him, fingers tangled in Zagreus’s hair. It was not an unwelcome sight. Heat washed through Megaera merely from observing them, a heat that simmered in her belly and cried out for more. 

When they parted, Megaera shoved them both to the ground. Zagreus and Thanatos lay side-by-side beneath her, flushed and blinking. She gripped the fronts of their chitons, but dove for Thanatos, needing that solidity before she burned too hot too quickly. 

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her down against him. Zagreus did not merely lay still and look, however. He shimmied close, hand wandering down the sway of her back to rest lightly against her ass. Warm lips kissed up and down her neck, shooting tingles down her spine. Zagreus nipped at her, a sudden, sharp sensation that made her gasp. Megaera arched away from Thanatos as this new spike of tension built inside her. 

Zagreus flipped aside her ponytail, kissing her neck between words. “You know … the only thing … I thought I’d miss about this place … was you two. The … the only reason … I could imagine … for coming back … was you.”

Megaera lunged up, seizing him, pulling him against her as she rolled to the ground. She landed with Zagreus atop her, their legs tangled, and bunched her hands in his hair, pulling so hard he whimpered against her mouth. He roamed downward again, kissing a trail down her neck and across her collarbones, one hand cupping her breast and squeezing. 

Megaera groaned, arching up into his touch even as he slid downward. He picked at armor and belts as he went and her chiton loosened around her. He left it intact, at least until he reached her hips. There, he paused, gazing up at her with a question in his mismatched eyes. 

Some part of her, still hurting and bitter, wanted to deny him, wanted to shove him away and storm out. But it was small and petty and it would heal in time, she knew. The harm he’d done had not been malicious. She’d always known that, no matter how it stung when he tried to leave over and over. 

She nodded. 

Zagreus tugged on her leggings, even as Thanatos interrupted him, stealing him away for another kiss while Zagreus idly rubbed a hand over Megaera. She bit her lip and swallowed the noises building up in her throat. It wasn’t just the way he palmed over her clit. Watching him and Thanatos kiss heightened the effect, like heaping more tinder on a fire already taking hold. 

They stopped, but did not part. Thanatos and Zagreus bent down together between Megaera’s legs. She gasped when two tongues licked along her. It was sloppy and haphazard at times, but all the more overwhelming for that. Trying to follow all the sensations was like trying to unravel a boulder-sized ball of tangled yarn; she would never pick through it all.

She surrendered to it instead, lying back and closing her eyes and letting the cacophony of overlapping pleasure roil within her. One of them found her clit and sucked and licked at it with determination until she bucked and let out a cry. The other pulled away, but Megaera didn’t care. She shifted her hips, unable to remain still as one of them lapped at her.

She reached, found smooth, neat hair, gripped it tight. Thanatos? This was Thanatos? That knowledge sizzled through her as she held his head between her legs. He gripped her thighs, moaning against her, his voice shivering up into her belly. 

Then he made a higher sound, not a moan but a yelp.

Megaera creaked her eyes open. Mostly, she saw Thanatos, but she could just pick out Zagreus behind him, apparently using his mouth to great effect. Thanatos’s licking got sloppy and unfocused, anathema to his precise nature. Megaera cupped his cheek to draw him up off her. Thanatos’s cheeks were as rosy as those pomegranates hanging over them, eyes glassy with pleasure. 

“S-sorry,” he panted.

She snorted to keep from laughing at his whimpering apology. Megaera drew one of his hands to her mouth, looking him dead in the eyes as she slipped two fingers into her mouth and sucked on them. His mouth opened wider around a silent gasp. Megaera traced her tongue between his fingers and along the webbing, watching the blush in his cheeks deepen. His free hand curled in the grass, tearing some of it free as Megaera and Zagreus worked in concert to shatter his cool composure. 

Megaera popped his fingers free and placed his hand at her pussy. He needed no further guidance. Thanatos pushed a slick finger inside her, following soon after with the second one. Megaera chewed on her bottom lip and shifted her hips to meet him. Those long, delicate fingers of his moved deviously within her, pumping slowly and precisely. 

A wet smack and Zagreus appeared, mouth disentangled from Thanatos’s ass for a moment. “Than,” he said. 

“Nnn,” Thanatos moaned. He collected himself with a visible effort, then said, “Yes, Zag, please.” 

Zagreus shifted behind him, clothing and bodies shimmying into place. Megaera could just barely see him slicking up his cock behind Than, then Thanatos’s fingers stuttered inside her, staying rigidly in place as Thanatos squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth. He released his clenched jaw with a burst of breath rapidly followed by a shuddering moan. 

Gods bless him, but Thanatos recovered quickly and started moving his fingers again, just as dedicated and precise as before Zagreus was buried inside him. He folded forward, sweaty forehead pressed against Megaera’s skin. She threaded her fingers back into his hair and gripped him tight as his fingers curled inside her. 

Much as she might have enjoyed watching, that bend in his fingers made it momentarily impossible. Megaera’s eyes were squeezed just as tightly shut as Than’s as his clever hand thrust into her. She held on tightly enough to tear his hair out, but he just moaned against her, hand working swiftly. Each pump beat a fresh burst of heat into her, as though Asphodel’s fiery river filled her one molten drop at a time. It gathered at the base of her spine, tingling through her limbs and bunching in her gut. She moaned at the pressure coalescing inside her, pressure like boulders grinding relentlessly against each other until they dissolved into sand. 

And all the while his body jolted atop hers, rocked by Zagreus’s pounding. She could imagine well what he was doing back there and apparently it was working. Thanatos’s voice rang through her, an indefatigable song of joyous bliss. She savored each note, her whole body closing in tight around them to keep them pressed against her heart for long after this fleeting moment of pleasure.

She broke with his fingers inside her, broke watching his face screw up with excruciating joy. Megaera trembled as the heat washed out of her in a gush, dragging the warmth out of her body as she coated his hand in wetness. 

Still, Thanatos kept going, even as Megaera jerked with over-stimulation. She gently pushed his hand away and he opened his eyes to gaze at her with horror.

“It’s OK, Than,” she said. “It’s OK.” 

He still looked like he wanted to protest, so she sat up, kissing him, drinking down his little whimpers as Zagreus drove into him and pushed him against her mouth. He was so mild, so cool, even now with heat bright in his face. 

Megaera eased away to sit at his side. He threw his head back when she grabbed his aching cock and started to stroke. His limbs shook. Each breath emerged as a whine. His whole back bowed when he spilled over her pumping hand, spine curling as though he meant to snap himself in half over the unrelenting thrust of the pleasure thundering through him. 

Zagreus moaned more softly, almost a sigh, like a penitent human kneeling before a god in supplication. He dragged out of Thanatos, who sagged to the grass and lay there breathing deeply, back flaring wide with each tattered inhale. 

Megaera meant to sit there and stroke his sweaty back, meant to brush the hair off his damp forehead and trail her fingers over his skin until it cooled, but Zagreus crawled toward her, naked and disheveled and panting.

“What are you--”

She did not get to finish before Zagreus pushed her onto her back and dove between her legs. She felt like she’d hardly just reached her peak, but Zagreus just licked up the slickness already there and went to work rekindling the fire waiting in her belly. 

Megaera gasped, both from the heat of his mouth and the speed with which her body responded. Everything sprang tight again, as though Thanatos had merely started a fire and left it smoldering. Zagreus stoked the simmering coals back to life, heat shooting up Megaera’s spine as he licked along her, tongue swirling at her clit. 

Someone grabbed her hand. She found Thanatos, nearly coherent again and watching her pant with renewed arousal. He shuffled closer, still holding her hand as he kissed her, mouth bitter with her own taste. Thanatos licked into her mouth as Zagreus licked into her cunt, both using their tongues to make Megaera arch up off the grass. Thanatos swallowed her cries, squeezing her hand tighter when she dug her nails into his skin. 

Thanatos’s mouth refused to leave hers as Zagreus sucked hard on her clit and Megaera attempted to squirm away. She jerked her hand free of his, gripping his hair again, and he cupped her breast. Thanatos massaged slow but firm, a gentler contrast to Zagreus’s dogged pursuit of her second orgasm beneath this odd tree in this odd garden. 

It did not take him long to find it. Megaera scratched her nails down Thanatos’s neck to his shoulders, cutting crescents into his flesh as the second wave thrashed through her. At last, she wriggled her mouth free so the cry clogging her throat could burst free. Neither of her companions left her, letting her writhe and scratch and groan until every quivering drop shook out of her, leaving her a shivering mess of boneless limbs in their hold. 

She did not attempt to move. Thanatos and Zagreus fit themselves around her, slotting into place at either side. Zagreus lay with his head against her chest, Thanatos with his cheek at her shoulder. They interlaced their hands atop the quieting breaths rising and falling in her abdomen. 

For long moments, none of them spoke, simply recovering from their frenzied reunion beneath the pomegranate tree. Those gleaming fruits hung heavy overhead, like drops of blood waiting to fall. Megaera laughed. How sickeningly appropriate. 

“So,” Zagreus said, “do you forgive me?” 

Megaera scoffed. “I did until you spoke.” 

“Hey, no, that’s unfair.” 

“Is it?” Thanatos said. 

Zagreus pushed up, his outrage softened by his smirk. “If I have to spend the rest of eternity with you two conspiring together against me, I’ll throw myself into the Lethe.”

Megaera rolled her eyes. “It’s your fault. It probably wouldn’t work either.”

“Won’t stop me trying.”

“Yes, well, I’m sure you’ll enjoy spending all that time in Elysium with Theseus,” Megaera said. 

Zagreus’s face contorted around a disgust so pure Megaera could not help but laugh at the sight of it.

“Point taken,” he grumbled. “But I was only partially joking. I know I … I know what I was trying to do was not pleasant for either of you. It was never my intent to hurt you, but I knew I probably was and … and I’m sorry for that. I don’t think this makes things better or anything, but...” He shrugged.

Thanatos and Megaera sat up as well. Even with all of them at least partially naked in the aftermath of their exchange, the mood sobered. 

“Zagreus,” Thanatos said, all his flustered blushing replaced with the cool command he wielded for his work, “you shouldn’t apologize. You made the choice you made and if you had to make it again, I presume you’d do things the same way.”

“I would,” Zagreus said. 

“Then your apology is shit,” Thanatos said. “You aren’t sorry.”

“I’m sorry for hurting you.” 

Thanatos shook his head. “You aren’t. And that’s OK. You made the decision you had to with full knowledge of the cost, a cost you accepted. A cost we accepted as well.” 

He glanced at Megaera, who nodded in confirmation.

“We would not have helped otherwise,” Megaera said. 

“Therefore, there is nothing to apologize for,” Thanatos said. “Things unfolded as they should, as they must.”

“What if it didn’t work out?” Zagreus said. “What if I had been able to stay? It’s not like I knew you two would help. I acted without even thinking.” 

“That’s true,” Megaera said. “And we’d expect nothing less of you. The least you could do for us now is stop pretending to regret it.” 

Zagreus pouted, but finally acquiesced. “Fine. You win. I see I’ll be paying for getting you two together for the rest of eternity, huh?”

“You absolutely will,” Megaera said.

“It is the mildest punishment you deserve,” Thanatos drawled. 

“Alright, alright, message received,” Zagreus said. He sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “I guess I’ll see you both out there again soon, then.”

“Yes,” Thanatos said, “and we’ll see you here as well, at home.” 

“At home.” Zagreus rolled the words around in his mouth, a smile creeping across his face like he was tasting ambrosia for the first time. “At home,” he said, nodding. 

Megaera bit her cheeks to contain her own smile. She’d come here today to feel miserable, to mourn the last good day she could remember, the day before he’d started his escapes, the day before he’d shaken the foundations of the entire underworld, the day before she’d faced eternity and for the first time in her long life felt utterly, completely lost. 

But it wasn’t the last good day. It wasn’t the end of anything. Zagreus, the son of Hades – he was unlike any god or being she’d ever met. Sometimes that was terrifying. Sometimes it sent cold fear streaking through her. Sometimes it made her question everything she’d known for centuries.

Perhaps that was for the best. 

The day before Zagreus started trying to escape had been the last good day, but only because the ones to come promised so much more than merely “good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I really enjoyed getting to do a Meg POV for this story. She's such a cool character and I really got the sense that her motivations would be complicated and interesting. So I hope I conveyed some of that complexity here. This OT3 has brought me so much comfort and joy in 2020. True story, I titled this "The Last Good Day" because on the day I posted this there was a news story so utterly crushing and depressing that I really felt like maybe I'd already experienced the last good day of my life. I can't say I feel wildly hopeful, but, like Meg, I feel a hell of a lot more hopeful than I did that day.
> 
> \--
> 
> I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/purplebookcover) (18+ please).
> 
> I respond to every comment. Thank you, friends!


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